This rendering shows Colorado State University's proposed $246 million on-campus football stadium. / Courtesy of Colorado State University

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What it is

Colorado State University has proposed building a $246 million, 43,000-seat on-campus football stadium, with a roughly 12-acre footprint, off Lake Street.

CSU President Tony Frank and the university system’s governing board approved plans for the new facility in mid-October. The project has ignited an “athletics versus academics” debate, and remains fiercely opposed by the group Save Our Stadium Hughes.

What's happening

The current plan calls for no usage of state funds, taxes or tuition dollars in the stadium’s construction.

About half the money — $125 million — must come through private donors. CSU has launched a two-year fundraising endeavor that’s success will determine whether the university should put shovels in the ground.

The fundraising campaign is in a “quiet phase,” university spokesman Mike Hooker said. The university is “cultivating” donors and looking at potential corporate sponsorships and stadium naming rights deals. Hooker declined to say how many people or companies CSU had contacted, or how much money has been raised thus far.

“In terms of specific numbers or money given, we aren’t ready to release that yet,” he said.

Under state law, CSU isn’t required to make that information public.

What's next

Eventually, but Hooker couldn’t say when, the campaign will become more public. While specifics are not yet concrete, he said, it will likely include an advertising push, outreach to inform people of how they could donate, and an online presence.

“What that all looks like, right now, hasn’t been hammered out,” he said.